Arcade owner accused of animal abuse for filling claw machine with live turtles

It remains to be seen where the Chinese public will decide to draw the line on live animals inside claw machines

An arcade owner is facing accusations of animal abuse after filling one claw machine with something other than stuffed plush toys.

Footage has hit Chinese social media showing the claw machine, located inside of a Wanda shopping mall in the Jiangsu city of Wuxi, offering a number of live turtles as prizes for those players skilled enough to grab them.

Though, of course, grabbing the slow-moving creatures isn’t terribly difficult. It’s keeping hold of them that’s the tricky part. If the claw loses its grip on a turtle then the poor animal is in for quite a little fall. The same thing holds true if the turtle actually makes it all the way to the shoot.

Some concerned citizens have complained about the live turtle claw machine, calling it a clear case of animal abuse. However, the machine’s owner has dismissed these accusations, arguing that the turtles are never suspended very high in the air.

It remains to be seen where the Chinese public will decide to draw the line on live animals inside claw machines. Last year, none other than Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba filled a claw machine at a Hangzhou shopping mall with live hairy crabs in order to mark the beginning of crab season.